RICO helped take down the Gambino crime family. Now, it's being used online.

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Federal prosecutors have secured an unusually stiff sentence against a low-level identity thief by invoking the same law used to target bosses of the Gambino crime family and Los Angeles street gangs.

On Thursday, David Ray Camez, 22, was sentenced to serve 20 years in prison and pay $20 million in restitution for his participation in carder.su, a website that allowed people to collaborate on crimes involving identity theft, computer malware, and other types of online graft. He was already serving a seven-year sentence for the same acts when he and 38 others were charged in a 2012 indictment. The indictment alleged violations of the Racketeering Influenced Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, which allows for harsh criminal and civil penalties for acts that are part of an ongoing criminal enterprise.

Under RICO, it didn't matter that Camez's conduct was an infinitesimal small part of the illegal acts carried out on carder.su; or that he was just 17 or 18-years-old when he was caught purchasing or possessing counterfeit drivers licenses, credit and gift cards, and equipment for manufacturing counterfeit cards. During sentencing, prosecutors provided evidence establishing the site, with an estimated 5,500 members as of 2011, was responsible for losses totaling $50 million. Feds also established that carder.su was a criminal enterprise engaged in large-scale trafficking of compromised credit cards and identities. The showings were some of the many factors under RICO that allowed for increased penalties for Camez, who went by the online aliases "Bad Man" and "doctorsex."

For years, carder.su had been one of the more brazen examples of the lawlessness and impunity that remain the norm for some heavily populated corners of the Internet. Hosted in the former Soviet Union, it was frequented by "carders" who traffic compromised payment cards and counterfeit identifications and people who engage in money laundering, narcotics trafficking, and malware-based crime. Among other things, carder.su operated a forum that allowed members to buy and sell illicitly obtained data and share tips of their trade. A second forum allowed trusted members to vet the reliability and trustworthiness of newcomers. Account holders played various roles, including moderators, reviewers, vendors, and general members.

The site was shut down in 2012. Last month, key carder.su member Cameron Harrison agreed to plead guilty to federal racketeering charges. He will face similarly stiff penalties when he is sentenced in the same Nevada federal court as Camez. In all, 55 defendants in four different indictments have been charged with offenses associated with carder.su. Prosecutors have already secured 14 guilty pleas, and at least two defendants are schedule for trial in June. If the Camez sentence is any indication, they can expect to spend years in prison and the rest of their remaining days devoting a sizable portion of their livelihoods to paying restitution.

As punishment, HSBC was assessed a fine of 1.9 billion — about four weeks’ worth of its pre-tax profits. No bank officials who were caught red-handed or confessed to multiple counts will be prosecuted or imprisoned.

But should one happen to facilitate trade in stolen credit cards issued by those same banks .... now that's serious.